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Van Nelle. Monument van de vooruitgang | Joris Molenaar, Frank Kaufmann | 9789069060378 | de Hef

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Van Nelle

Monument van de vooruitgang

Author:Joris Molenaar, Frank Kaufmann

Publisher:de Hef

ISBN: 978-90-6906-037-8

  • Hardcover
  • Dutch
  • 294 Pages
  • Sep 15, 2005

Ever since it was built in 1930 the Van Nelle factory has been internationally acknowledged as one of the finest examples of modern architecture. The complex, which arose at a crossroads of economic, technical, social, philosophical and cultural developments, has retained its special aura right up to the present day, even now that it has been redeveloped for an entirely different purpose.

In the 1920s the coffee, tea and tobacco company owned by the Heirs of the Widow J. van Nelle experienced a period of prosperity that coincided with the economic expansion of the port of Rotterdam. The old factories scattered around the city centre were no longer big enough, and a young partner in the firm, Kees van der Leeuw, decided to have a new factory built in the meadowland of the Spaanse Polder. Fascinated as he was by architecture and the latest building techniques, he worked closely with the architects, Brinkman and Van der Vlugt. His socioeconomic ideology – in which there was room not only for efficient management but also for fulfilment of what he believed were the workers’ needs – and his marked preference for functionalist architecture and design resulted in an open building with plenty of sunlight and fresh air. Almost as soon as it was built the complex was hailed as an icon of Dutch functionalism – a window on tomorrow’s world. At the same time, myths began to form around the people and events that had brought the factory into being.

Ever since it was built in 1930 the Van Nelle factory has been internationally acknowledged as one of the finest examples of modern architecture. The complex, which arose at a crossroads of economic, technical, social, philosophical and cultural developments, has retained its special aura right up to the present day, even now that it has been redeveloped for an entirely different purpose.

In the 1920s the coffee, tea and tobacco company owned by the Heirs of the Widow J. van Nelle experienced a period of prosperity that coincided with the economic expansion of the port of Rotterdam. The old factories scattered around the city centre were no longer big enough, and a young partner in the firm, Kees van der Leeuw, decided to have a new factory built in the meadowland of the Spaanse Polder. Fascinated as he was by architecture and the latest building techniques, he worked closely with the architects, Brinkman and Van der Vlugt. His socioeconomic ideology – in which there was room not only for efficient management but also for fulfilment of what he believed were the workers’ needs – and his marked preference for functionalist architecture and design resulted in an open building with plenty of sunlight and fresh air. Almost as soon as it was built the complex was hailed as an icon of Dutch functionalism – a window on tomorrow’s world. At the same time, myths began to form around the people and events that had brought the factory into being.

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